


Smash Mansion: The Terms

by ghastly7



Series: Smash Mansion [2]
Category: Super Smash Brothers
Genre: Actual plot, F/F, F/M, Feels, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-29
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-10-18 14:00:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 10,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17582237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghastly7/pseuds/ghastly7
Summary: ReadShenanigans in Smash Mansionbefore reading this. This occurs in the same world.





	1. Chapter 1

“Where the hell are they?” Wolf asked.

They were all ready and waiting for a day of Smash, but Samus and Dark Samus hadn't shown up yet.

“They just got together. They are probably attempting to make the most of the day,” Palutena said, allowing her staff to float at her side. “If push comes to shove, we'll cover for them.”

Female Robin talked next. “Yeah. We have an update tomorrow anyways. Samus probably knows that and decided to take an extra day off.”

“Well, let's hope it doesn't cause too many problems,” Pokemon Trainer said.

“Amen to that,” Sonic said.

 

* * *

 

The fights of the day went pretty smoothly, if not a little skewed towards Pichu and King K. Rool. That was, until the words everyone had been dreading came from the intercom.

“RIDLEY! VERSUS, ZERO SUIT SAMUS!” the announcer called.

Ridley moved onto the stage as everyone else panicked.

“Umm, umm, okay!” Pit said, and he ran onto stage in Samus's place.

“READY? GO!” the announcer called.

And the fight began. Pit drew his bow and fired an arrow. Ridley dodged past it and bared his claws. Pit fired another arrow, to much the same effect. And then-

“NO CONTEST.”

Pit started sweating.  _ Uh oh. _

“RIDLEY! VERSUS, ZERO SUIT SAMUS!” the announcer repeated.

Marth walked up and placed a hand on Pit's shoulder. “I will take this one.”

Pit tentatively nodded and returned to the waiting area.

“This is bad, isn't it?” Pit whispered to Meta Knight.

“Likely,” Meta Knight responded.

“READY? GO!”

Marth was hardly able to get one sword swing in before…

“NO CONTEST.”

“Yep. Definitely bad,” Pit said out loud.

And then, all the lights in the stadium turned off.

“What's going on?” Fox asked.

Palutena made her staff start glowing so everyone could see. “There.”

“I'm… concerned,” Zelda said.

“WHERE IS SAMUS?” the announcer said, now speaking directly to them.

Everyone stayed silent.

“RIGHT. WELL, I SUPPOSE THAT YOU ALL MAY GO BACK TO THE MANSION NOW. THE REST OF THE FIGHTS SEEM TO HAVE BEEN SHUT DOWN FOR THE DAY,” the announcer said. He sounded mad.

Isabelle tried to help. “Mr. Announcer-”

“PLEASE RETURN TO THE MANSION IN A TIMELY MANNER,” the announcer interrupted.

Nobody knew what to say, so they all left for the mansion in silence.

When they arrived, Samus and Dark Samus were in the lobby.

“Hey, you guys are back kinda early,” Samus commented.

Wolf stepped up, looking angry. “Yeah, that's because-”

Female Corrin stepped in front of him. “The fights got closed early today.”

“Hmm, weird,” Samus said, lightly sipping on her margarita.

“SAMUS ARAN AND DARK SAMUS,” the voice over the intercom boomed. It immediately grabbed the two lovers’ attention. “I WOULD LIKE TO THINK THAT WE ASK VERY LITTLE OF YOU ALL. ALL WE ASK IS THAT YOU SHOW UP FOR YOUR MATCHES.”

“I mean, there  _ is _ an update tomorrow. It's not that big of a deal,” Samus said. “For the record, I'm sorry, though.”

“SORRY IS NOT ENOUGH,” the announcer said. “I EXPECT THIS TO NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN.”

Samus rolled her eyes. “Alright, alright, I get it.”

The intercom shut off after that.

“Wow, I didn't even know that he  _ could _ get mad,” Richter said.

Fox looked at Samus. “Samus, we understand why you did what you did, but…”

“It was a one-time thing. Sorry, guys,” Samus said.

“It's alright,” Lucina said. “Did you two enjoy yourselves?”

“Yes, we did,” Samus said, standing up from her seat so that she could sit sideways across her girlfriend's lap. “It was nice to have the quality time.” Samus wrapped her arms around Dark Samus's neck and kissed her quickly on the pale white skin of her cheek.

“Aww, is this what we were like?” Palutena asked, wrapping her arm around Lucina's shoulders as Female Robin did the same around Lucina's waist.

“YES,” said several different people among the crowd.

“Wow, don't hold back or anything, guys,” Female Robin said, rolling her eyes.

“Well, I think we've had enough crazy stuff happen today. Let's all get some alone time,” Ike said.

“Way ahead of you,” Snake said, already heading to his room.

* * *

 

The next morning, everyone woke up at 5:00 a.m. when the intercom turned on.

“GOOD MORNING, SMASHERS!” the announcer yelled.

“God, jeez, could you have waited until later to do this?” Dark Pit said, angrily rubbing his eyes as he sat up in bed.

The announcer either didn't hear him, or completely disregarded him. “I WOULD LIKE YOU ALL TO MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE LOBBY AT SOME POINT IN THE DAY. THERE ARE SOME NEW RULES POSTED UP THERE THAT I EXPECT YOU ALL TO ADHERE TO! ENJOY YOUR DAY OFF!”

“New… rules?” Dark Pit said, and then shook his head. “I don't care.” He then placed his pillow atop his head and went back to sleep.

 

* * *

 

“This is bullshit!” Samus shouted in the crowded lobby.

“What is?” Chrom asked, entering the room.

“Read the new rules,” Wolf said, snarling.

Chrom looked up at the electronic bulletin board and read the text.

**New Rules of the Smash Mansion**

Note from the announcer:

CLEARLY WE HAVE GIVEN YOU TOO MUCH FREEDOM IN THE CURRENT TERMS OF YOUR STAY. IF WE CANNOT TRUST YOU TO ATTEND YOUR MATCHES, WE CANNOT ALLOW YOU SO MUCH FREEDOM. WE HAVE ALSO TAKEN THIS OPPORTUNITY TO PUT IN PLACE SOME OTHER REGULATIONS THAT WERE ALREADY IN THE PROCESS OF BEING ESTABLISHED. PLEASE NOTE THE RESTRICTIONS BELOW.

  1. Fights must be attended without fail. Otherwise there will be severe consequences.
  2. Any damages to mansion property will be met with severe consequences.
  3. Leaving the mansion without notifying the announcer will result in severe consequences.
  4. Being intoxicated within mansion property is no longer permitted. Disregarding this rule will result in severe consequences.
  5. Cursing within the premises is disallowed. Doing so will result in severe consequences.
  6. All fighters’ memories of time spent in the mansion will be wiped prior to their return to their homeworlds, to minimize the impact on the stories of said worlds.



 

“Whoa, wiping our memories?” Chrom said. “That's… that's not right!”

“You are preaching the choir,” Ryu said.

“And  _ I'm _ curious what severe consequences means,” Female Robin said.

“They did seem to be quite partial to using the term,” Rosalina commented.

“This all is fucking bullshit!” Samus shouted.

“Yeah, well it's your fault! Ever think about that?!” Wolf shouted back.

“Wolf,” Palutena said cautiously.

“Maybe it is, but I don't think one fucking day that I miss should cause this much of a fucking difference!” Samus shouted.

“Samus, keep your voice down! We don't know what the punishment is for cursing,” Sonic said.

“You know what, I don't fucking care,” Samus said, approaching the door.

“Where are you going?” Pit asked.

“I'm leaving unannounced to go to Smashville so I can get fucking wasted,” Samus said. “Also…” and she shoved over a vase that shattered on the ground.

“Are you sure that breaking these new rules is a good idea?” Lucina asked, concerned.

“I don't give a shit!” Samus said, and she slammed the door behind her.

She stomped all the way to Smashville and right into the bar. An anthropomorphic squirrel was tending it.

“Peach vodka,” Samus said, sitting down on a barstool.

The bartender just stared at her.

“Are you deaf? I said I wanted some peach vodka. I want to get drunk as fast as possible,” Samus said, rubbing her temples. Then she looked around the room. Every single creature there was staring at her.

“What? Is there something on my face?” Samus asked.

 

* * *

 

When Cloud stepped into the lobby, he saw several people sitting there. Dark Samus, Palutena, Lucina, both Robins, Chrom, Greninja, Pokemon Trainer, Falco, Fox, both Corrins, and a few more. And they all looked really anxious.

“Why the f-” and then Cloud caught himself, “Why are you all here?”

“Samus hasn't come back yet,” Lucina said. “She's been gone for seven hours.”

“Oh,” Cloud said.

“Needless to say, we're pretty worried,” Pokemon Trainer said.

They all shut up when they heard the sound of footsteps approaching the door. They grew louder, until the door opened and Samus closed it behind her.

“SAMUS!” a few different people yelled.

“Hey guys,” Samus said, looking confused. “Were all of you… waiting for me?”

“Samus, you've been gone for seven hours!” Female Robin exclaimed.

“I was?” Samus asked. “It didn't feel that long. Sorry, I didn't mean to make you all worry.”

“It's fine,” Palutena said.

Then Dark Samus approached her girlfriend for an embrace. Samus suddenly backed away and drew her pistol.

“Back the fuck up,” Samus said. Everyone was shocked into silence. “Are you Dark Samus? Why the fuck do you look like that?”

“... Like what?” Male Corrin asked.

“What do you mean, 'Like what'? Like a fucking humanoid!” Samus exclaimed.

“Samus, she's looked like that for months,” Lucina said.

“Yeah. Sure. And I'm the  _ only _ one who didn't notice,” Samus said, putting a hand on her hip.

Palutena looked at the bounty hunter, concerned. “Samus… how long do you think we've been at the mansion?”

“What is this, a pop quiz? We've been here a week and a half,” Samus said, sounding entirely convinced that she was correct.

_ All fighters’ memories of time spent in the mansion will be wiped prior to their return to their homeworlds _

“Oh no,” Palutena said.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Palutena is enraged by the new development.

“This is bad. This is really, really bad,” Female Robin said, pacing in her room. They had tried to explain the situation to Samus, but she hadn't believed them. Now it was night time, but Robin, Palutena, and Lucina were unable to find sleep.

“It's completely despicable!” Palutena said, standing with her arms crossed in the corner of the room. “This punishment is simply unacceptable.”

“I feel so bad for Dark Samus…” Lucina said, sitting on the bed.

Dark Samus had become despondent after what happened, and they could all imagine why. Dark Samus had been trying to get together with her human counterpart for such a long time, and that all had just been taken away from her.

“I can't stand for this," Palutena said, before storming to the door and leaving the room. Robin and Lucina followed.

Palutena went all the way to the lobby with her girlfriend and friend trailing behind. Once there, she shouted up into the air, “Announcer! I need to speak with you!”

“WHAT DO YOU NEED ME FOR?” the announcer asked.

“What do you think?! You erased Samus's memories!” Palutena said. She didn't even try to mask her anger.

“THE RULES WERE MADE CLEAR, AND SHE BLATANTLY DISREGARDED THEM,” the announcer said.

“The punishments  _ weren't _ made clear!” Palutena said.

“IT IS FOR THE BEST, ANYWAYS. IT WOULD UNDERMINE THE INTEGRITY OF HER STORY TO BE IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH ONE OF HER VILLAINS,” the announcer said.

“Who are  _ you _ to decide what her story is?!” Palutena exclaimed.

“THIS WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN AN ISSUE IF SHE HAD SIMPLY DECIDED NOT TO SKIP A DAY OF SMASHING,” the announcer said, seeming unaffected by the goddess's anger.

“That's not right,” Robin said, chiming in for the first time. “You have AI fighters for when more than one of the same person is in a fight. Why couldn't you have just used one of those?”

“THAT WOULD UNDERMINE THE INTEGRITY OF THE COMPETITION!” the announcer said.

“Announcer… what you're doing is wrong,” Lucina said. “Samus is one of our friends, and now she's missing part of her life.”

“I'M SIMPLY DOING WHAT I AM SUPPOSED TO. AND YOU THREE SHOULD DO THE SAME,” the announcer said. “IT IS LATE. GO TO SLEEP SO YOU'LL BE READY TO FIGHT TOMORROW.” And then the intercom shut off.

Palutena clenched her fist. Then, with a cry of anger, she swung it at the wall. Robin grabbed her arm right before it made contact.

“Don't! He might do the same thing to you if you damage mansion property!” the tactician pleaded.

Palutena lowered her arm, but didn't unclench her fist. “What gives him the right to do that to people?”

“Nothing does,” Robin said.

“Palutena, we're going to figure this out,” Lucina said, meeting her forehead with the goddess's. “We have to be careful, though. I don't want to lose you. Either of you.”

They started heading back to the elevator, but something caught Lucina's eye in one of the first floor halls. Something black, white, and blue.

“I'll be right with you, alright?” Lucina said. Palutena and Robin nodded in response as they entered the elevator.

Lucina headed to the other hallway and immediately found what she had seen earlier: Dark Samus sitting on the floor against the door to Samus's room. The alien's eyes were glazed over as she stared blankly at the opposing wall.

“Dark Samus?” Lucina asked.

There was no response.

“Dark Samus,” Lucina said, a little louder this time.

This time Dark Samus turned her head, and her expression made Lucina's heart clench. She seemed to be desperately and forcefully keeping herself from crying.

“I'm so sorry. This isn't right, especially not to you,” Lucina said.

Dark Samus just continued to stare blankly in her direction.

“Here, let me help you get to your room. Staying here all night isn't going to help anything,” Lucina said.

Dark Samus closed her eyes and wearily nodded.

Lucina pulled her up by her arm and walked her to an elevator.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A meeting in the garden.

Dr. Mario was in his clinic, organizing some medical files after a day of smashing, when Fox leaned into the doorway.

“Ah, Fox! Are you in need of medical assistance?” Dr. Mario asked.

“No,” Fox responded. “Actually, I wanted to suggest that you get out of the clinic a little bit more. The garden looks really lovely today. You should join me in going there.”

Dr. Mario was about to dispute and say that he was busy, but then he saw a pointed look in Fox's eyes. A look that suggested that he _ really _ should go right then and there.

“Let me put this file away, then I will join you,” Dr. Mario said, before doing exactly that.

 

* * *

 

“So, why can't we have this discussion in the mansion?” Dark Pit asked, tugging at the grass he was sitting among.

“I don't trust the announcer not to listen in on our conversation,” Palutena said. She looked up as the last few fighters arrived. “Ah, Ganondorf, King Dedede, please join us.”

“I am going to assume that this meeting is regarding the matter of Samus?” Ganondorf asked. He glanced around looking for the bounty hunter, but it seemed that she wasn't present. Neither was Pikachu, suggesting that the Pokemon was keeping Samus busy.

“Exactly,” Female Corrin said.

“It's really concerning, what's going on here,” Shulk said. “And what's scary is that it could happen to any of us next.”

“No, not just any of us. If matters continue the way they are, this  _ will _ happen to  _ all _ of us,” Male Robin said. “Remember, the rules board said that all of our memories of Smash will be wiped once the session ends.”

“But why?” Ken asked.

“From what these three told us,” Meta Knight gestured to Palutena, Lucina, and Female Robin, “apparently it's because the announcer and whoever his bosses are want to keep the 'integrity of our stories’.”

“That's bullshit,” Wolf said.

“I couldn't have said it better myself,” Palutena said.

“We need to think of a plan about how we deal with this, because I certainly don't wish to forget getting together with Palutena and Robin,” Lucina said, leaning her head on the latter's shoulder. “I imagine the rest of you would prefer not to have your minds tampered with as well.”

“Agreed,” Snake said.

“So, who's got an idea?” Daisy asked.

All heads turned to the Fire Emblem cast.

“What?” Roy asked.

“You people are usually the smart ones,” Bowser Jr. said.

“Though flattering, I'm open to hearing another opinion,” Female Robin said.

“Well…” Pokemon Trainer said, and all heads turned to him, “... we don't really know much about the announcer himself. Heck, we don't even know if he's human or not. We can't do anything if we don't know anything about the man who's causing the trouble.”

“Alright. Recon. That's something we can do,” Male Robin said.

“That's something  _ I  _ can do,” Snake said.

“Aw, Snake. I didn't know that you cared,” Rosalina said.

“Samus was… pretty close to being a friend. And despite her  _ numerous _ comments about how my butt has deflated,” Snake said, eliciting a chuckle out of several people, “I still think she deserves some justice for what the announcer did to her.”

“Alright. And on another matter,” Palutena said, “we can't go to Smashville anymore.”

“We can't?” Little Mac asked.

“No. That's where Samus was caught. I can only imagine that the residents are in league with the announcer,” Palutena said.

“‘In league with’. You act like we're at war with him,” Simon said.

“For all intents and purposes, we are,” Palutena said, looking dead serious.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People are preparing for Snake's stealth mission.

“What do we have here?” Snake asked, laying his hands on the new contraption.

Falco yanked it back out of his hands. “Something that's not finished yet.” He set it back down on the table. “Dr. Mario, can you hand me a Philip's head?”

Dr. Mario handed Falco the screwdriver he needed, and the bird got to work on the contraption. The contraption which combusted into flames after a few seconds of him tinkering.

Meta Knight swooped in with the fire extinguisher. After the fire was doused, there was a moment of silence.

Then, Meta Knight said, “We are not good at this.”

Falco nodded as Dr. Mario said, “Agreed.”

“Well, what  _ were _ you trying to make?” Snake asked.

“Something that would let you track the announcer's voice back to where he's sending it from,” Falco said. “But, uh… we don't know what we're doing.”

“Doesn't sound like you were the right men for the job to me,” Snake said.

“We are trying our best,” Meta Knight said. “I've done minimal maintenance on the Halberd, and Falco had some friends to learn a little bit of engineering from, but Isabelle or Samus would probably be the most likely to be able to accomplish this. But Isabelle had some inconveniently-timed paperwork come in, and we obviously can't have Samus's help, because-”

“Because what?” a female voice said, and then Samus rounded the corner of the doorway.

“Oh… uh… Samus…” Falco said.

“It is... nice to see you,” Dr. Mario said.

Samus walked fully into the room and picked up the device, examining it. There was a tense silence for a few moments.

“You wired it in sequence. You really need to do it in parallel,” Samus said.

“Um… what?” Falco asked.

“Just hand me a flat-head,” Samus said, holding out a hand. Falco handed her the screwdriver that she was asking for.

“Why do you want to help?” Snake asked.

Without looking up from her work, Samus said, “Because you people wouldn't be getting so worked up about nothing. The announcer did something to my memories. I believe that now.” She pulled the motherboard out of the device and started tinkering with it. “Now we just need to make sure he doesn't do it to anyone else.”

“Well, I for one am very glad to have your help,” Meta Knight said.

“Mmmhmm,” Samus hummed. Then she put the motherboard back on the table and stared forward at nothing in particular. “Can someone get her to stop stalking me? I'm trying to work.”

Everyone looked behind Samus and saw her dark counterpart peeking through the doorway. Or she had been, but now she was staring at the ground. She reverted back to her armor form.

Falco said, “She's only doing that because she-”

“I know. I've heard. It doesn't matter what she is, I need to focus,” Samus said harshly, returning to her work on the motherboard.

Meta Knight walked over to Dark Samus. “Sorry. Now's not a good time. I'll walk with you.”

Dark Samus nodded, her expression unreadable beneath her helmet.

The two walked down a few hallways in silence, no particular destination in mind. Then Meta Knight spoke.

“It's not fair, I know. Nothing about this is fair. Not to Samus, and not to you,” he said. “We're going to show the announcer that we're not going to stand for this. And who knows? Maybe then we'll be able to bring her memories back.”

Dark Samus nodded, her head still tilted toward the ground.

“Come on. Get rid of the armor. You don't need to hide your emotions from me,” Meta Knight said.

Dark Samus hesitated, but then shifted to her more humanoid form. There were streaks of glowing blue liquid coming from her eyes.

“Dark Samus…” Meta Knight said, outstretching his hands. “You're going to have to kneel down so I can give you a hug. I'm somewhat vertically challenged.”

A small, shaky smile graced Dark Samus's face as she got down onto her knees. Meta Knight wrapped her into a small hug, and the floodgates seemed to open. The swordsman was glad that he was wearing shoulder pads, as he could feel tingling from the phazon droplets even from beneath the armor.

The hug ended, and Meta Knight placed a hand on Dark Samus's shoulder. She did the same to his.

“We're all on your side. Every one of us. We will figure this out,” Meta Knight said.

Dark Samus smiled and wiped away the remnants of her tears. She nodded, and then headed off on her own way.

Meta Knight sighed. “I'm sorry,” he said, too quietly for Dark Samus to hear as she walked away.

Meta Knight turned, and found Kirby looking at him with a smile on his face.

“Stop. Wipe that smile off your face. I just did it because I wanted her to stop looking so depressing,” Meta Knight said, sounding unconvincing.

Kirby's smile only grew, and then he rushed over to hug the winged swordsman. Before he could, Meta Knight pulled out his sword and aimed its tip directly at the pink puffball.

“Don't,” Meta Knight said, and Kirby backed off.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The infiltration.

“Change in plans, Snake,” Female Robin spoke in a hushed voice, sitting down across from the man.

“Can the change in plans happen after I finish my breakfast pudding?” Snake asked.

“Breakfast pu…” Female Robin shook her head to bring back her focus. “No it can't wait, because this is a change in  _ the _ plan,” 

“Oh.  _ The  _ plan. Got it,” Snake said. “What's the change?”

“Joker's joining you,” Female Robin said.

“Oh, hell no. No way am I letting a teenager get in the way of my stealth op,” Snake said.

 

* * *

 

“I can't believe I let her talk me into this,” Snake said.

They had just concluded a Smash session, and as all the other Smashers headed to the mansion, Snake and Joker were sneaking through a series of metal corridors and vents, using a tracking device to find the source of the announcer’s voice.

Joker gestured for Snake to follow, and then scaled an entire shelving unit in a single bound. Snake huffed, then jumped to grab onto the top shelf before pulling himself up. Joker walked to the end of the unit and pulled out his gun to shoot the bolts off of a vent cover.

“Wow, they didn't let me bring any guns,” Snake said.

Joker tilted his hand in a 'kinda’ gesture.

“Don't you ever talk?” Snake asked.

“Sometimes,” Joker responded, startling his partner. Snake couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something oddly familiar about his voice.

Snake rolled his eyes, and then leaped across a gap to the vent. He grabbed the edge and hung for a moment, and then pulled himself inside. Joker filed in right after him.

They came to another vent cover, and Snake peered through it. Instead of a small, empty room like the last few vents, this vent led into a massive, circular room. Most of the room was filled with grates, item storage, and other various mechanical pieces. In the middle of it all was something that looked like a gigantic console. One wide pillar of metal came from the ceiling, and another from the floor. In between the two was a green, glowing orb that had certain parts of it covered in metal. It looked like some sort of cyber-Galeem.

“The announcer,” Snake whispered. “So he  _ is _ an AI.” Joker stared past him at the machine.

The 'eye’ turned a little bit, and then turned back in the other direction. It looked as if it was focussing on something.

Snake looked back to Joker. “Okay, we know what we need to know. Let's head back,” he whispered.

Joker nodded and started to back out of the tunnel, but his knee landed on a bulging part of the vent and it made a very audible noise as it crumpled.

The announcer's core jerked and turned towards the vent and both of the infiltrators flinched. But the announcer didn't do or say anything, just stayed turned in that direction.

Joker slowly took the weight off of his knee, and the vent quietly crinkled back into place. Snake kept an eye on the announcer as they both cautiously backed out, but the orb didn't seem to move.

The two fled the scene as quickly and quietly as possible. They returned to the mansion and were greeted by Female Robin, Palutena, and Lucina.

“How did it go?” Lucina asked.

“Well, mostly okay,” Snake said. “We know where he is, and we know that he's actually an AI.”

“Wait, why only 'mostly’ okay?” Female Robin asked.

The intercom turned on.

“ONE OF YOU WAS SNOOPING AROUND IN PLACES YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN,” the announcer said.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The announcer makes some rule changes.

“Oh, really? Someone has been causing trouble?” Palutena asked. It was uncanny how well she was hiding her nerves.

“YES, THEY HAVE,” the announcer said. “AND THERE ARE GOING TO BE SOME RULE CHANGES BECAUSE OF IT.” He paused for a moment, then said a little louder, “ATTENTION. EVERYONE PLEASE GATHER IN THE LOBBY. THERE ARE SOME ANNOUNCEMENTS I MUST MAKE.”

Sonic was there almost immediately. “What happened? Nobody else got mind erased, did they?”

Ike entered. “Is everything alright?”

Rosalina flew in. “No one is hurt, are they?”

Palutena raised her hands in a calming gesture. “So far, everyone is fine,” she said.

“So far,” Female Robin mumbled under her breath.

All of the other Smashers assembled in the large room after a few minutes and were bustling with nerves. Then the intercom came back on.

“SOMEONE WAS SOMEWHERE THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN,” the announcer said. “I MUST REMIND YOU ALL THAT WANDERING INTO UNAUTHORIZED AREAS HAS ALWAYS BEEN AND WILL ALWAYS BE A PUNISHABLE OFFENSE.” He paused. “IF ANYONE HERE KNOWS WHO IS RESPONSIBLE, PLEASE STEP FORWARD AND REVEAL THEIR IDENTITY.”

The room was silent. Snake sunk into the middle of the group, but Joker stayed near the front. He didn't want anyone else to take the punishment for him. He prepared to step forward…

But he found his hand being held back by Male Robin, preventing him from doing so.

“I SEE. NO VOLUNTEERS,” the announcer said. “WELL THEN, I WILL BE FORCED TO ENACT A NEW POLICY CHANGE.”

Suddenly, outside of the front door and every window came a wall of green electricity that seemed to completely block any exits. The room was shocked into silence for a moment. Then Peach plucked a radish out of the ground and tossed it out of the front door. It was obliterated instantly.

“ALL FIGHTERS ARE TO REMAIN INSIDE OF THE SMASH MANSION UNTIL IT IS TIME FOR FIGHTS TO OCCUR, AT WHICH POINT ALL FIGHTERS WILL BE CONSTANTLY MONITORED. IF ANY UNAUTHORIZED ENTRY INTO OR EXIT FROM THE MANSION OCCURS, ALARMS WILL BE SET OFF THAT WILL ALERT ME OF THE ISSUE.”

“That's not fair!” Mega Man protested.

“MANY OF YOU HAVE DECIDED TO BECOME SIGNIFICANTLY MORE ROWDY AS OF LATE. IT SADDENS ME TO SAY THAT THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO KEEP YOU ALL UNDER CONTROL,” the announcer said.

“Control. That's what you want, all right,” Samus mumbled to herself.

“PLEASE TRY NOT TO HARM YOURSELVES ON THE NEW BARRIERS, AND HAPPY SMASHING!” then the intercom shut off.

Female Corrin sighed. “Well, this is a problem.”

“How are we going to do anything if we can't even leave the mansion?” Fox asked.

“I… we can't,” Female Robin said.

“That’s crap. That bastard deserves some payback,” Samus said.

“Well, we're not going to be able to do anything,” Female Robin said.

“Maybe we just need help?” Sonic asked.

“Well, we'd need someone we can contact, who would be able to avoid the barriers, and who could go completely unnoticed by the announcer,” Female Robin said, counting off on her fingers. “Any ideas?”

There was a beat, and then everyone turned to Kirby.

“Please don't do this,” Meta Knight said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all thought I forgot him, din'tcha?


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Help arrives.

He appeared in a flash of purple light, with chromatic wings wrapped around him.

“Guess who!” Marx shouted as he appeared in the room.

All of a sudden, alarms started blaring and flashing red all throughout the mansion.

“That's enough of that,” Marx said. He blinked, and every single alarm shattered to pieces. “That was annoying. Were those new?”

Palutena nodded. “Yes. There are a lot of new… features to the mansion.”

Marx floated over to a window and peered out of it. “Man, that's a lot of electricity covering this up. What, are you guys in house arrest or something?” He turned and expected someone to laugh or at least smile at his joke. No one did. “Oh. Oh no, you guys are  _ actually  _ in house arrest.”

“You pegged it,” Pit said. “The announcer has gone rogue. Or, like, the opposite of rogue. Dictatorial?”

“He is threatening to erase every one of our memories if we don't follow his rules,” Bayonetta said.

“Jeez, that sucks,” Marx said.

“That's why we appreciate you arriving so quickly,” Palutena said.

“Eh, no problem. Popstar is really fucking boring when Kirby's not around,” Marx said.

“Then I hope you'd be willing to help us,” Lucina said.

“Yeah,” Female Robin said. “As you can see, we're locked into this building. We'll be able to leave for our fights tomorrow morning, but at that point the announcer will be constantly monitoring us.”

“So, go out and kill the announcer. Am I getting this right?” Marx asked.

“If that's what has to be done, then I won't oppose it,” Chrom said.

“But the best time to do it would be when we're leaving for Smash. That way it won't set off any more alarms,” Male Robin said. “In fact-” and the intercom started to faintly crackle. “Hide!”

Marx vanished into thin air.

“AN ALARM WAS SET OFF, BUT I SEE THAT EVERYONE IS PRESENT. WHAT HAPPENED?” the announcer asked.

“... Yeah, we heard the alarm, but nobody was trying to escape,” Pokemon Trainer said.

“Maybe it just glitched out?” Sonic said.

“I SUPPOSE THAT'S A POSSIBILITY. I APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE,” the announcer said, and then the intercom shut back off.

Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. If the announcer had paid closer attention, he would have seen the pieces of a shattered alarm on the ground.

“Alright, Marx. We're good,” Male Robin said.

Marx reappeared. “‘Sup.”

“Okay, so, the plan,” Female Robin said.

Marth stepped forward. “We would like your first target to be whatever machine is causing this electric wall. That way we can come and help you deal with the announcer.”

“Pfft, I don't need your help,” Marx said.

“Just… the electric wall generator. Please?” Female Robin said.

Marx rolled his eyes. “Fine.”

“Alright! Again, thank you. We really needed your help,” Lucina said, taking Palutena and Female Robin's hands. “I don't want to lose my memories with everyone here.”

Marx grinned. “Aww, that's so sweet. I'm gonna throw up.”

Meta Knight rolled his eyes. “Just sit tight. We'll find you a room.”

“Or Joker will just pick the lock to one of the empty ones,” Snake said.

Joker shrugged and nodded.

“Well, better head to bed then,” Samus said. “Tomorrow, we kill an AI.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to go see the announcer.

The next morning, the electricity around the front door was opened up, allowing the fighters to go to the arena. And as soon as the opportunity came, Marx was out of the mansion.

The others went through their usual fights. Dark Pit vs. Mario. Peach vs. Incineroar. Bowser vs. R.O.B.. As usual, they did whatever fights the announcer told them to, which now had much sourer of a taste than it used to.

When the day was done, everyone headed back to the mansion, just as they were told to by the announcer. The door shut behind them.

“Well, we're here,” Wolf said. “Where's the purple guy?”

“That's a good question,” Daisy said, before looking out a window. “He did his job, though.”

Samus looked out the same window. The electric wall was gone. “Yeah, I guess he did.”

“So… do we go?” Falco asked.

“Yeah. I want some payback,” Samus said, cracking her knuckles.

“Wait, we need to think about this,” Palutena said. “We don't know what getting rid of the announcer will do. He could have control of the entire realm, for all we know. We need to be cautious.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Samus said, putting on her armor. “But Marx is already there, probably destroying that asshole. Might as well help him.”

And they set off, leaving out of the front door at a brisk pace. Pit walked next to Dark Samus, who had been staring at Samus's back the whole time.

“Hey, we're going to get her memories back,” he said. “They're stored away somewhere, I'm sure of it.”

“Yeah,” Female Corrin said, slowing down to walk beside the two. “Everything's going to work itself out.”

Dark Samus nodded, finally looking away from Samus and giving a small smile. Then she changed form into her armor and started levitating off of the ground.

 

Female Robin grabbed her girlfriend's hand. “Hey,” she said.

“Yes?” Lucina asked, pecking Robin on the cheek.

“Just… we don't know what the announcer is capable of. Promise me you'll be careful,” Robin said. She looked at Palutena. “You too. Please, both of you... don't do anything too risky.”

Lucina smiled. “As a group, we've defeated powerful dragons, dark gods, beings from space… I won't allow this to be the end of me,” she said. “And I  _ won't _ let him take away our memories of our time together.”

“Don't worry. I'll be keeping her safe, just as I'm sure you will be,” Palutena said.

“We'll all protect each other,” Female Robin said, nodding with a smile.

 

Male Robin walked up to be at pace with Joker. “Hey, what we're about to do might be dangerous,” he said. “Well, if Marx hasn't already done it, that is.”

Joker nodded in response.

“I just… there's something I want to tell you before it happens,” Robin took a deep breath, steeling his resolve. “... I-”

Wolf barged inbetween them. “You two are too slow. Move.”

After Wolf continued to plow his way forward in the formation, Joker turned back to Robin with a questioning look.

“... It was nothing. Don't worry about it,” Robin said and mentally berated himself.

 

They all reached the right building, and entered the front room. It was almost entirely metal, as Joker and Snake had seen prior. There was no decor, unless you counted the occasional blinking electrical lights. And there was a huge hole in the wall. Marx was not subtle.

“Well, there's our entry point,” Meta Knight said. “Here we go.”

“Who are you people?”

Everyone turned to the source of the voice.

“Huh?” Sonic asked.

“Don't 'huh’ me, I asked you a fucking question!” Samus said, raising her arm cannon. “Who the fuck are you people?”

Palutena looked shocked. “Samus, we have known you for years.”

“Yeah. Sure. Guess I just have a bad memory,” Samus said in a very hostile fashion.

“Not just a  _ bad  _ memory,” Meta Knight said, concerned.

“Samus, listen to me,” Palutena said. “The announcer is messing with your head. You can't let him get to you. Fight it.”

“Who the fuck is the announcer?” Samus asked. She scanned the crowd with her eyes, and they caught on one individual in particular. “YOU!”

Ridley rolled his eyes and made a noncommittal growl.

Samus looked around, eyes surely wide under her helmet. “You're all working with  _ him _ !”

“Samus, you were too!” Female Corrin said. “Ridley is trying to make sure that his own memories don't get erased like yours did! You're on the same side!”

“Never in a million years!” Samus shouted, and then she aimed her arm cannon at the space pirate.

Everything happened in an instant. Charizard grabbed her cannon and pointed it at the ceiling as she shot. Ganondorf dove into Ridley and knocked him out of the way of the ricocheted energy blast. Simon grabbed Samus around the waist in an attempt to restrain her. And then Samus electrified her armor, shocking both Simon and Charizard.

The bounty hunter backed away from everyone. “Get the fuck away from me!” She retreated from the building.

“Samus, wait!” Palutena called, but she was already gone.

Dark Samus broke from the crowd and went after her.

“We have to stick together!” Lucina called, but again, it was too late. Dark Samus was gone.

“That's alright. What's two people? We've got plenty,” Falco said. “We'll beat the announcer, and she'll get her memory back….. hopefully.”

“Don't be too cocky,” Captain Falcon said.

“You are the last person I would ever want to hear say that,” Falco said.

“Falcon's right,” Male Robin said. “If the announcer pulled that trick, it can only mean one thing.” He looked among the other fighters. “He knows we're coming.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fighters confront the announcer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll post this one early. Why not?

The element of surprise was lost. The fighters entered the huge, round room of the announcer, and the green orb that signified his being was already turned towards them.

“GREETINGS,” he said.

“Cut the shit, bastard,” Shulk said. “That was a nasty trick, what you did to Samus.”

“NASTIER OF A TRICK THAN SENDING A MAN TO KILL ME?” the announcer asked.

“I'm not sure I would use the term 'man’ to describe Marx…” Meta Knight said.

“You threatened to mess with our brains,” Snake said. “I'd say we were justified.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Meta Knight said, something registering in his head. “You  _ beat _ Marx?”

“YES. HE WAS QUITE A POWERFUL FIGHTER. A SHAME THAT HE WASN'T STRONGER,” the announcer said.

King Dedede, Meta Knight, and Kirby all shared a look of 'holy shit, this is bad’.

“That doesn't matter,” Palutena said. “You messed with my friend's mind, and you're planning on doing the same to all of us. We can't allow this to continue.”

“ACTUALLY, I HAVE CHANGED MY MIND ABOUT ALL OF YOU,” the announcer said. “IT WAS ACTUALLY SOMETHING THAT FEMALE ROBIN SAID THAT DID IT.”

“Me?” Female Robin asked.

“YES. YOU MENTIONED THAT WE HAVE AI FIGHTERS THAT CAN BE USED FOR DUPLICATE FIGHTS. WELL, YOU HAVE ALL PROVED YOURSELVES TOO PROBLEMATIC TO CONTINUE IN SMASH. AND NOW I KNOW THAT WE DON'T NECESSARILY NEED LIVE FIGHTERS ANYMORE,” the announcer said. “PREPARE TO BE REPLACED.”

Then a new figure teleported into the room. He unwrapped himself from his wings, which glittered in many different colors. He levitated his purple body into the air.

“Marx!” Richter said, delighted. He looked at the announcer's core with a smug look. “You're in for it now.”

But Meta Knight shook his head. “No, something isn't right.”

Then Marx opened his eyes. They were red. Like a captive fighter from the World of Light.

“MARX, PLEASE DEAL WITH THESE INTRUDERS,” the announcer said.

Marx laughed his haunting laugh, and began to attack.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vs. Marx.

“Marx, don't do this!” Ike shouted, but a crescent-shaped projectile knocked him away.

“It's no use,” Pit said. “He's not going to be able to hear us until we defeat him.”

An involuntary laugh left Meta Knight. “ _ Defeat _ him? This isn't some false AI copy! You have no clue what you're facing up against!”

“Kirby did it once, right?” Pit asked, parrying another of the crescent blades.

“Yes. But,  _ but _ , only when Marx had  _ just _ gotten his new power. And even then, Marx massively underestimated Kirby,” Meta Knight said. “JUMP!”

Everyone in near proximity to the swordsman leapt off the ground just before a gargantuan laser beam emerged from Marx's mouth.

“Well, it isn't like we have many other options,” Bayonetta said.

“So how do we defeat him? Does he have a weakness?” Male Corrin asked.

Kirby gave a noncommittal gesture.

“I'll show you how you defeat him!” Captain Falcon said, charging forward.

“Falcon, wait!” Fox shouted, but his cry fell upon deaf ears.

Captain Falcon ran up right below Marx's floating form, then jumped into the air. And with a triumphant, “FALCON KICK!” he went burning towards their adversary.

Immediately, Marx spat a ball of cold energy, freezing Captain Falcon in the spot, apart from his head. His frozen body tumbled back to the others.

“Ow,” Captain Falcon complained, completely unable to move.

“And this is the part where I say 'I told you so’,” Fox said.

“Wait,” Meta Knight said. “He's holding back.”

“It really doesn't feel that way,” Captain Falcon said, with both a bruised ego and a bruised body.

“No, believe me, if he hadn't been, you would be dead many times over,” Meta Knight said. “We all would be.”

“That's reassuring. Thanks for the pep talk,” Snake said sarcastically. “But seriously, do you think we have a chance now?”

“I think we just might,” Meta Knight said. “Tacticians?”

The Robins nodded. “Anyone with wings, take to the air and spread out. We don't want anyone too clumped up,” Male Robin said.

“Everyone stay light on your feet. Be ready to dodge at a moment's notice!” Female Robin called out. “We need to play this defensively.”

“Pits and Links, I need you all to lay down some arrow fire,” Male Robin said. “Palutena and Rosalina, you try to take care of any projectiles he shoots.”

“Ganondorf, Ridley, Bowser, keep an eye on the announcer. If he tries anything, stop it. Pichu, Chrom, and K. Rool, wait for an opening and lay in the damage,” Female Robin said. “And Falcon! You look good as an icicle. Keep it up!”

Captain Falcon freed one of his hands and flipped her off.

The announcer took this moment to speak. “MARX, REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE CREATORS OF SMASH. YOU MUST FULFILL THEIR WISHES, NAMELY BY TAKING CARE OF ROGUE ELEMENTS. DESTROY THEM. NOW.”

And then, the tension seemed to leave Marx's body. He smiled, and his glowing red eyes grew wider.

“Uh oh,” Snake said.

Marx started spinning, and dozens upon dozens of seeds started landing everywhere, immediately springing into thorned vines covered in roses.

“Look out!” Pit shouted, trying to take off and avoid the plant life, but it caught up to him all-too-quickly. Dark Pit was moderately more successful, actually gaining some height, but the vines still managed to wrap themselves around his limbs and his wings.

Bowser roared as he was practically buried in thorns. Palutena’s limbs were bound almost instantaneously, as were most other fighters'. Greninja sliced vine after vine with water blades as the plants relentlessly assaulted. Pichu jumped from vine to vine to avoid getting caught in one place. Donkey Kong tried and failed to overpower the vines in strength, and Mario was unsuccessful in attempting to light them on fire.

“Lucina!” the bluette heard a nearby voice say. She felt herself shoved to the right just as a vine shot to where she had previously been. That vine now constricted Shulk, who had undoubtedly seen this coming in a vision.

“Shulk!” Lucina said.

“Just worry about stopping Marx!” Shulk said, getting pulled away.

Lucina clenched her sword a little tighter than she had been previously. After a few seconds, the vines seemed to stop growing, allowing her a moment's respite.

“Marx! You need to fight this!” Lucina shouted.

Marx just turned to her, and his cheeks started to bulge. Lucina prepared herself to dodge the incoming laser blast, but it came out before it even would have been possible to react to it. But the massive laser just barely missed her. When Lucina could see Marx again, she could see him struggling with himself.

“Yes! Keep fighting, Marx! We're going to free you!” Lucina declared, but then had to dodge and deflect a few stray light arrows that Marx seemed to involuntarily shoot off.

“You can do this, babe!” Female Robin declared from behind a thorny prison.

Lucina took stock of who was left to fight with. Pichu, Greninja, Joker, and Sonic were all up and running, and Meta Knight seemed most of the way through cutting himself out of his bindings.

“We need to hit hard and fast,” Lucina shouted to her comrades as she charged in.

She swung her sword, but Marx teleported a few feet to the right. She swung again, and he teleported below her sword. His laugh rang out, and then columns of flame started burning out of his eyes. Lucina had to leap backwards to avoid getting singed. But then Marx was hit in the back with something, causing him to abandon his current attack.

“I got him!” Mega Man shouted from where all of him but his arm were pinned to the wall. “Score one for the mega buster!”

Then Pichu used thunder. A direct hit. Greninja threw a water shuriken. Direct hit. Sonic landed a solid kick, and Joker hit a strong knife strike. Meta Knight descended from above and gave a powerful swing with his sword. For a second or two, it seemed one-sided in favor of the good guys.

Then Marx shot light arrows in all directions. Everyone had to find cover behind the vines, and that gave Marx the room he needed. Bubbles of noxious-looking liquid started coming out of his wings and drifting all across the room. Greninja cautiously poked one. It exploded in his face.

“Greninja!” Sonic exclaimed. But the Pokemon got back to his feet, albeit rather shakily, and raised a thumb.

Lucina had had enough of this. She started ducking, sliding, and weaving between the bubbles at a fast pace, but it didn't go unnoticed by Marx. His cheeks puffed up, seemingly about to spit something out, but then he seemed to struggle and try to swallow it back down.

Lucina took her opportunity. She lunged forward, drew her sword back, and stabbed.

Marx went bouncing across the floor, and all of the tangling vines went slack, releasing their captives. Marx rolled to a stop, then stared at the ceiling with his, now normal, eyes.

“I. AM. PISSED OFF,” he shouted.

“Marx! Good to have you back on our side,” Chrom said. Yoshi, right next to him, nodded fervently.

“It took you guys long enough! I was fighting this asshole's control that whole time,” Marx said.

Then everyone's attention turned to the green ball of the announcer.

“WELL, IT SEEMS THAT I'LL HAVE TO GET MY HANDS DIRTY AFTER ALL,” the announcer boomed. Huge green lights shone in the air around the room. “CONSIDER THIS THE TERMINATION OF YOUR CONTRACTS, AND OF YOUR LIVES.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The battle against the announcer.

Ganondorf sighed. “Of course. I had completely forgotten about you. We all still have unfinished business with you and your ridiculous 'rules’.”

“I AM SIMPLY UPHOLDING THE VALUES THAT MY CREATORS PROGRAMMED ME TO UPHOLD,” the announcer said, the glowing green lights only growing brighter. “THE SPIRIT OF THE COMPETITION HAS BEEN RUINED BY ALL OF YOU. I HAVE TO FIX IT.”

“If you were to give Samus back her memories and remove the new rules, we might be able to negotiate,” Rosalina said.

“IT IS FAR TOO LATE FOR THAT, AND YOU KNOW IT,” the announcer said. The floating green lights condensed and formed a Master Hand and a Crazy Hand.

Dark Pit sighed. “Dammit, I thought we were done…”

“The battle's not over yet,” Ike declared.

“Give it everything you've got, and try to focus on the core!” Female Corrin said.

“Here we go!” Shulk said. And with multiple battle cries, most of the fighters charged in.

Lucina hung back, and, seeing this, her girlfriends stayed with her. The bluette approached Marx on the ground.

“You already fought the announcer,” Lucina said. “We need to know how he fights so we don't lose like you did.”

“I didn't lose!” Marx said irritably. “I underestimated him, okay? It didn't count. I'm going to destroy him this time.” Marx paused for a moment. “But, uh, if you guys wanted to help, I wouldn't  _ stop  _ you…”

Female Robin smirked. “Sure. But we need information.”

Marx nodded and his wings appeared at his sides, allowing him to hover off the ground a little. “He's not going to stop spawning those hand thingies. Or basically any of the 'bosses’ that you guys fight. It seems like he has an unlimited supply. And his core is strong. Stronger than any kind of material I've obliterated before.”

The three women turned their heads to their friends who were fighting the announcer and found Marx's explanation entirely evident. The two hands seemed to have been defeated, but more took their place. And now there were Draculas, Galleoms, Giga Bowsers, Ganons, Rathalos, and fake Marxs entering the battle and being destroyed off and on. King K. Rool shot his cannon at the announcer's core, and it plinked off harmlessly.

“This is going badly!!!” Bowser Jr. loudly proclaimed mid-battle.

“REMEMBER, I CONTROL WHETHER YOU ACTUALLY TAKE MORTAL DAMAGE OR NOT. AND I DON'T INTEND TO BE GIVING YOU ANY HANDICAPS,” the announcer said. It almost sounded… cocky.

Pit had been fighting a Giga Bowser, and got launched way back by a shell attack. Thankfully, Link picked up where he had left off. Pit slid far across the ground, ending up next to Palutena, Lucina, Female Robin, and Marx. And when he looked at Marx, he had an idea.

“Lady Palutena! I think we can do this!” Pit said.

“It seems like you have an idea, Pit,” Palutena said.

“Yeah, mind sharing with the class?” Female Robin asked.

Pit turned his gaze on the purple puffball beside them. “Marx.”

“Yeah, what?” Marx said. “You already had my attention. You didn't need to say my name.”

“Remember when I took you to the boss arena during visitors week?” Pit asked.

“Yeah, I fucked up some shit. What's your point?”

“You were able to summon the bosses without the announcer's approval,” Pit said.

“Yeah, I guess I did,” Marx said, sounding interested. “It was kinda on a whim, though.”

“Wait, if you could control the mechanisms of Smash like that, you might be able to cancel out the announcer's control,” Female Robin said.

“Exactly!” Pit said excitedly.

“Man, all of you are nerds,” Marx said before teleporting closer to the announcer. “Hey bitch!”

And then, simultaneously, all of the bosses vanished.

“WHAT?!” the announcer said, sounding panicked.

“Darn, kinda wanted that not to work so I could call the angel out on it…” Marx mumbled, before refocusing himself. “You made a  _ big _ mistake pissing me off!”

“WHY AM I UNABLE TO CREATE ANY MORE BOSSES?” the announcer asked.

“Clickety-clack, clickety-clack. I'm in your matrix,” Marx said. “And now  _ you're _ about to be in my belly. Goodbye!”

Marx bisected himself and a black hole emerged from between the two halves. This, understandably, caused some concern among the fighters, but the gravity didn't seem to be affecting them. Just the announcer's core. It was briefly pulled towards the force, but quickly was able to right itself.

“YOU STILL SEEM TO UNDERESTIMATE ME,” the announcer said, the orb starting to glow brighter.

“We need to help push!” Sonic said, starting a spin dash. The fighters started to lay into the other side of the orb, but it didn't budge.

Then a beam of energy shot out of the announcer's core, aimed straight at Marx. The purple puffball disappeared just before the beam could strike him. This, unfortunately, meant that the black hole stopped, and the announcer also started spawning bosses again.

“Shit!” Male Corrin exclaimed, and then had to dodge some fire from a Dracula.

“Damn, he really doesn't want to end up in a black hole,” Marx said as he appeared behind Palutena. “I can't imagine why.”

“We need more pushing power. Something with more impact,” Meta Knight said, flying over to them.

Zelda's ears perked up, momentarily distracting her from her fight against a fake Marx. Thankfully, Young Link was there to help.

“Young Link, I have a plan,” Zelda said. Then she turned to the group gathered around Marx. “Hey! Do you think you can do that again?”

“I can summon black holes all day, lady,” Marx said, once again despawning all of the bosses and beginning a black hole. This time, the core didn't budge an inch.

Zelda met eyes with all three Links, then looked to everyone else. “Everyone get out of the way.”

Male Corrin immediately knew what was happening and started leading the other fighters away. Once they were at a safe distance, the Links came together.

“Ready?” Zelda said.

“WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO?” the announcer asked.

“Go!” Zelda shouted, and the Links put their wrists together.

A cataclysmic explosion radiated outwards from the hylians, not affecting them, but most certainly affecting anything else in range. As the flash cleared, they became able to see the extent of the effect.

The announcer's core was now floating in the air between its pedestal and Marx's black hole. But it was slowly inching its way back to its original position.

“No, it wasn't enough!” Zelda said, distressed.

The Links tried to touch their wrists together again, but the power of the triforces seemed to have gone temporarily dark after the outburst.

“IT IS NOT GOING TO BE THAT SIMPLE TO DEFEAT ME,” the announcer proclaimed. He started glowing, then fired a massive beam of energy at the hylians.

It never connected, though, as it was held back by two other huge beams coming from the other direction. One blue, and one black and blue.

The fighters turned to the sources, and were relieved to see them.

“Samus and Dark Samus! You came back!” Richter exclaimed.

“I still don't know what's going on, but this copycat over here made it clear that this asshole is definitely my enemy,” Samus said, and then she tossed an overfull sack forward onto the ground. “Apparently these things power us up. Grab some.”

Zelda, the closest to the bag, dumped it out. It was full of smash balls.

“Yes! That's perfect!” Palutena said, grabbing one and crushing it. “Mega Laser!”

A gigantic pink beam shot into the announcer, allowing Samus and Dark Samus’s beams to also connect. He started slowly being forced back.

Mega Man grabbed a ball, multiplied into several versions of himself, and shot several beams. Duck Hunt started a Hogan's Alley shootout at the announcer. Pokemon Trainer started his Triple Finish, and Ridley shot a huge blast of fire. After all of this, the announcer was inches away from being within the force of Marx's black hole.

“YOU CANNOT DO THIS,” the announcer said. “WHO WILL RUN THIS COMPETITION, AND THE FUNCTIONS OF THE MANSION, IF YOU KILL ME?”

There was relative silence for only a moment. Then Marx said, “I mean, if no one else is gonna volunteer…”

“YOU?” the announcer said, befuddled.

“Yeah, wait, what?” Pokemon Trainer said.

Marx shrugged with his wings. “How hard can it be? I can already control the mansion, I can probably use voice recordings from this dickwad… yeah.”

Male Robin tilted his head and shrugged. “I mean, I guess we don't have many other options.”

“We're going to regret this,” Meta Knight said definitively.

“We'll deal with that later,” Palutena said. “Marx, please rid us of this monster.”

Marx smirked, which looked really weird when he was split in half. “Gladly.”

He made the black hole a little bigger, and the announcer's core was sucked right in. Marx closed himself up.

“Is… is it over?” Marth asked.

All of the fighters silently watched for a moment, waiting to see if the announcer had one more trick up his sleeve. Then Marx burped.

“Sorry,” he said. “He was kinda hard to digest. But yeah, it seems pretty over to me.”

“Yeah, it's over,” Samus said, with her eyes squinted shut and rubbing her temples, seemingly with a splitting headache. “We did it.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end.

Once they arrived back at the mansion, everyone basically collapsed into bed. Some people didn't even make it that far, going right to sleep on the couches in the lobby (Snake, Female Corrin, and Captain Falcon were examples of that).

But Samus stayed up, and brought Dark Samus aside.

“Hey,” Samus said.

Dark Samus perked up a little bit just by hearing Samus address her directly.

“I.. I remember the Smash Mansion now, and I remember everyone here, but…” Samus paused. “I'm sorry. I think everything beyond a few weeks into being at the mansion is gone for good.”

Dark Samus visibly deflated.

“Hey, hey, don't be like that,” Samus said. She took a moment to gather her thoughts. “I still remember what was happening once my memory got messed with for the second time. You helped put me back on the right track, and I can tell that you really do care about my safety.”

Dark Samus shook her head.

“You don't?” Samus questioned.

Dark Samus pointed at Samus.

“Oh. It isn't that you care about my safety, it's that you care about _me_ ,” Samus said. Dark Samus nodded in response. “Well… how about this? Let's try and see if we can do this again. I'm going to try to be less of a bitch towards you, and we can start off as friends. Who knows? Things might just fall right back into place.”

Dark Samus started slowly nodding.

“I know, it's a huge compromise you have to make, but you can thank the announcer for that. May he rest in the deepest pits of robot hell.”

Dark Samus smirked and made a noise similar to a chuckle.

Samus studied her face for a moment. “You really aren't the same Dark Samus that I fought. You've changed.”

Dark Samus nodded with no hesitation.

“Well,” Samus said, extending a hand, “I look forward to spending more time with you.”

Dark Samus smiled and took the hand.

 

* * *

 

Lucina finished getting into her sleeping clothes and sighed. “Things are going to be different now, aren't they?”

Robin paused with one arm out of her cloak. “I mean, hopefully not. With Marx running things, everything should theoretically return to normal.”

“Well, it _is_ Marx, so that is a point of concern,” Palutena said, magically changing into her sleeping gown.

“Well, yeah, granted,” Robin said. “But we can handle a little bit of craziness.”

Lucina was silent, and it caught the attention of her lovers.

“What's troubling you, Luci?” Palutena asked.

“... You two have heard what he had said time and time again. Insisting on saying 'we’. Talking about the people who designed him. Talking as if some of those rules weren't his ideas in the first place… it's given me a bad feeling,” Lucina said. “What if the people who made the announcer- the whole competition, in fact- end up finding out about this?”

Robin waved a hand dismissively. “That's a problem that we'll get to when we get to it.”

Palutena nodded. “The announcer wasn't even the strongest foe some of us have faced. As long as all of us in the mansion stick together, we can do anything.”

Lucina laid back in the bed. “I suppose you're right.” Then the bluette lightly smirked. “How did I end up with such smart girlfriends?”

Said girlfriends took their places on either side of Lucina on the bed.

“By being radiant and wonderful,” Robin said, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend as Palutena did the same. They all drifted off to a contented sleep.

 

* * *

 

“So this is my new office, huh?” Marx said.

“Yeah, I mean, if you want to call it that…” Sonic said.

They were standing in the circular control room that once housed the announcer, still covered in Marx's own vines. Bowser and Donkey Kong were currently taking pieces off of the metal pillars in the center and moving them out of the room.

“Are you really sure that you'd rather stay here and control the mansion than go back home?” Female Corrin asked.

“Yeah. I was getting real bored of Popstar without Kirby around to stir up some trouble,” Marx said. “This'll definitely be more interesting.”

“Just… please don't start destroying everything in sight with the power this gives you,” Meta Knight said.

“What makes you think I would do that?” Marx said.

“The fact that you tried to crash an entire clockwork star into our planet,” Meta Knight said in a deadpan tone.

Marx waved a wing dismissively. “Tomato, potato.”

“... There were… _so many_ things wrong with what you just said,” Sonic said.

“Look, I'll be responsible, okay?” Marx said. “Maybe a few pranks here and there, but nothing major or life-threatening.”

Meta Knight sighed. “Okay. I think,” he sighed, “I think I could manage with that.”

“Yes!” Marx said, and then he floated into the center of the room. He closed his eyes, and then opened them. They were now slightly glowing green.

“Oh wow, there're a lot of functions in this place,” Marx said. “Where should I look first… oh, cameras!”

Sonic quirked an eyebrow. “Cameras? Really?”

“You've got to get through the boring stuff first. That way you'll still have fun stuff to explore,” Marx said.

“Huh. I was not expecting actual good advice to come from _you_ of all people,” Meta Knight said.

Then Marx's expression turned sour. “Yeesh, that's a little disturbing…”

“What?” Female Corrin asked.

“There are multiple camera feeds in every room,” Marx said.

“ _Every_ room?” Sonic asked.

Marx nodded. “Yeah. Main rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms…”

“ _Bedrooms?! BATHROOMS?!_ ” Female Corrin exclaimed.

“Yeah, I'm uh… I'm gonna go ahead and turn those off,” Marx said, blinking a few times.

Sonic gave a disgusted look. “I mean, I know he was just an AI, but that's still…”

“Creepy as FUCK?” Female Corrin said.

“Yeah, that's the term I was looking for,” Sonic said.

“You should also make sure to turn off any alarm systems or similar defense mechanisms,” Meta Knight said. “Also… please make sure those cameras _stay_ off.”

“Hey, I may be an insane psychopath but I'm not a creep,” Marx said. “I don't want to know what goes on in those rooms.”

“Good. See that you never find out,” Meta Knight said.

“Ah, there we are,” Marx said.

“What did you find now?” Sonic asked. Bowser and DK, having finished moving out the columns, carefully stepped over the many vines and joined the group.

“I found the announcer’s voice recordings,” Marx said. Then, over the speakers, a familiar chime of “SHARE STOCK!” came out in the announcer's voice.

“Cool. What does that mean?” Female Corrin said.

“It means you can fight again,” Marx said. Then he cleared his throat, and his voice started coming from the speakers instead of his own mouth. “Hey everyone, you're all late for your fights. Get to it, bitches!”

“Wait, are you talking to us, too?” Sonic asked.

“Yes, I'm talking to you!” Marx said, still over the speakers. “Get to the arena! Go go go!”

“You heard him, let's go!” Female Corrin said, turning into her dragon form to get some extra speed. Everyone ran with her to get to the arena.

They joined everyone else in the waiting area, and then the intercom turned back on.

“Alright, let's see if we can try this one again,” Marx said over the intercom, and then the voice changed to the announcer's. “RIDLEY! VERSUS, ZERO SUIT SAMUS!”

The two combatants entered the arena, Samus walking in with a little more confidence in her posture.

“READY?”

Ridley gave a small roar, and Samus smirked as she drew her pistol.

“... GO!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it! I might take a short break after this. Then again, I also might not. Who knows?
> 
> Edit: Yeah, the next chapter is up. Remember, it's back up on Shenanigans in Smash Mansion.

**Author's Note:**

> Please don't leave prompt requests on this story! Leave them on the other one!


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